Conventional lighting systems for commercial spaces often feature one or more light fixtures that are installed in a ceiling or overhead support structure, or attached to the walls. The lighting fixtures can be arranged in a variety of configurations designed to provide the appropriate amount of light, and the appropriate distribution of that light, throughout the space. Once the lighting arrangement is installed, the options for changing the arrangement (e.g., moving, adding or removing a fixture, or changing the overall lighting pattern) are fairly limited. This makes it difficult to customize the arrangement to meet or adapt to certain preferences. For example, this is a particular issue in multi-use spaces that are used for different purposes or events, where each purpose or event has its own unique lighting needs, and where the space must be reconfigured from one purpose or event to another purpose or event on a frequent basis.
Conventional track lights allow the user to manually change the position of an otherwise stationary light fixture, but only within the limited confines of the track, which is typically linear and limited in length. Some track lights also allow the user to pivot the light fixture in place, so as to change the direction of illumination from that location on the track. Manual adjustment of individual light fixtures in a large space containing several light fixtures can be labor intensive and require a significant amount of downtime during which time the space cannot be used. For this reason, manually adjustable track lights are not preferred for spaces that are frequently reconfigured for different purposes.
Automation of movement has been limited. For example, there have been track lighting systems that provided motorized movement of the lighting devices along the tracks. However, such automated motion has been limited by the placement, length and shape of the track. As another example, some types of lighting devices allow controlled adjustment of the beam shape or motorized adjustment of the orientation of the source, e.g. for controllable studio lighting.